China open to conducting flight tests on Boeing 737 Max.
Chinese aviation officials have signaled they are open to conducting flight tests on Boeing 737 Max, a step toward lifting the plane’s grounding in that nation after more than two years, according to people familiar with the matter.
See also: FAA slows Boeing 777X certification.
Details of a validation flight for the Max in China are still being worked out, but the discussions are a sign of possible progress in what has become a lengthy standoff over the plane, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Boeing is preparing to send a delegation of around 35 pilots and engineers to meet with regulators in late July after they undergo weeks of quarantine, one of the people said, according Bloomberg.
See also: The Boeing 737 MAX 10 makes first test flight.
It could still take many months after such a flight before China’s air regulators wrap up their work and lift the flying ban — particularly if there is no break in the heightened trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
China’s regulators in March said they had “major concerns” about the plane, including design changes, new pilot training and the causes of the two Max crashes. But they have said little about why they are taking so much longer to assess the redesign and clear the plane than regulators in the U.S., Europe and Canada. Their lengthy review has fanned speculation that politics is a factor now that the plane has been cleared by more than 170 countries.
“It’s nothing to do with aviation, safety or aviation safety,” Richard Aboulafia, a long-time watcher of the aerospace industry at the Teal Group, said in a recent interview. “It’s way above our pay grades, way above our heads. It’s geopolitics.”
Another person familiar with the discussions said China authorities are in talks about performing Max simulator sessions, but declined to say what the prospects are for an actual flight.
Both simulator runs and flight tests preceded the decision to lift the ban in the U.S. and Europe, but some nations haven’t required them before allowing the plane to resume normal operations.
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